He missed it!

CARDINALS 24, RAIDERS 23

The Raiders' players on the sideline watched Sebastian Janikowski kick the game-winning field goal as time expired Sunday, then started jumping up and down and ran onto the field.

Quarterback Bruce Gradkowski heard the roars get louder and was impressed with how loud the Raiders' fans were. Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said he "went nuts" and made it all the way to the middle of the field before he saw the Cardinals' players were celebrating, too.

"That's when I looked back and saw we didn't get it," he said.

No, the players had seen Janikowski kick it but didn't see that he had punched the 32-yarder wide left. It was his third miss of the day, earlier pulling a 41-yarder and 58-yarder wide right, and helped Arizona escape with a 24-23 win in its home opener.

Janikowski, who missed three field-goal tries all of last season, was gone before reporters got to the locker room. Holder Shane Lechler said he thought it was going to be a game-winner, too.

"I don't know," he said. "I looked up, expected it to split the uprights. It sounded good. Everything was good."

Oakland Raiders' Sebastian Janikowski, front, and Shane Lechler (9) react after Janikowski missed a field goal as time expired in an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010, in Glendale, Ariz. The Cardinals won 24-23. less

Oakland Raiders' Sebastian Janikowski, front, and Shane Lechler (9) react after Janikowski missed a field goal as time expired in an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010, in ... more

Photo: Matt York, AP

Photo: Matt York, AP

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Oakland Raiders' Sebastian Janikowski, front, and Shane Lechler (9) react after Janikowski missed a field goal as time expired in an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010, in Glendale, Ariz. The Cardinals won 24-23. less

Oakland Raiders' Sebastian Janikowski, front, and Shane Lechler (9) react after Janikowski missed a field goal as time expired in an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010, in ... more

Photo: Matt York, AP

He missed it!

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The Raiders (1-2) pointed to other missed scoring opportunities, but Janikowski probably needed the most support on the flight home.

"I hurt for him and I hurt for the team," Asomugha said. "He's a guy that comes out and has made so many great field goals, last-second field goals, for us in his career. That's a tough one. He is going to take it hard."

Gradkowski had a 12-yard fourth-down pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey on the last drive, and the Raiders got 39 more yards on a pass-interference call against Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie covering Heyward-Bey.

"I was coming downfield, telling their players, 'You know they just cost you right there,' " running back Darren McFadden said. "So that was my thought process, like the game was over. So, hey, it didn't bounce our way."

Oakland couldn't bounce, throw or run the ball into the end zone in the second half. It had the ball inside Arizona's 20-yard line three times and scored only three points. The biggest missed opportunity was when the Raiders had a 1st-and-goal at the Cardinals' 1-yard line with 9:12 left in the game.

Michael Bush was stopped for no gain and then Gradkowski lost track of the game clock, the delay-of-game penalty pushing Oakland back to the 6. Gradkowski then tried twice to throw jump-ball passes for Heyward-Bey on the right side of the end zone, but both fell incomplete.

Janikowski hit a 23-yard field goal to pull the Raiders one point behind, 24-23.

On their next series, the Raiders got to the Arizona 36 but a false-start penalty on Mario Henderson pushed Janikowski's effort back to 58 yards. He had plenty of distance but missed it.

The loss ruined great efforts by Asomugha (holding Larry Fitzgerald to one catch), McFadden (25 carries for 105 yards and a TD) and receiver Louis Murphy (five catches for 119 yards).

The defense got stronger as the game progressed, holding Arizona to 12 yards on seven plays in the fourth quarter.

Penalties (11 for 123) again hurt the Raiders, but they were also the fortunate recipients of two punts that bounced off Arizona players' legs.

The first half was a wide-open affair, starting off LaRod Stephens-Howling returning the opening kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown.

The Raiders, with Gradkowski named the starter over Jason Campbell, scored 20 points in the first half for the first time since they had 24 in a 34-25 win at Tennessee on Oct. 30, 2005.

"We had a lot of opportunities in the second half to put some exclamation points out there and we couldn't do it," coach Tom Cable said. "We have to continue to get better in the red zone.